Cloud PLM and “Made in Germany” Sticker…

Few weeks ago, back to my trip to Munich PLM Innovation Congress, I published post – Will Europe Adopt Cloud PLM? Navigate back to my article to listen to the speech by Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, announcing a European Cloud Partnership help cloud computing through public procurement. Since that time, I started to follow “European cloud” story more closely. The following article caught my attention – Cloud computing ‘made in Germany’ stirs debate at CeBIT. Take five minutes of your time and read this article. It sounds like German IT and specifically Deutsche Telecom is playing an interesting cloud game. Security is a strong point they want to leverage. Here is an interesting passage:

The head of the German communications giant, Rene Obermann, told visitors to the CeBIT this year that “the ‘German Cloud’ could present a competitive advantage for us.”. Having lived through first a Nazi dictatorship, then a Communist one, Germans are especially sensitive when it comes to data protection and Deutsche Telekom hopes to leverage this to its advantage. “In Germany, the data protection laws are very strict. But several operators do not come from Germany and do not adhere to these standards,” said Obermann. He is aiming at the 3.6 million prosperous German small and medium sized firms who have not yet taken the leap to storing their data using cloud computing. Only 12 percent have done so. “It’s an enormous potential,” said Obermann, vaunting the advantage of his firm’s 30 giant servers or “datacenters” across Germany.

It made me think about future cloud PLM potential of German market. Two major CAD / PLM companies are permanent residents in EU – Dassault Systems and Siemens PLM. Dassault has significant cloud ambitions. Earlier last year, during DSCC 2011 event in Las Vegas, Bernard Charles mentioned that DS spent about $2B to develop the best in-class cloud online PLM platform. At the same time, Siemens PLM so far didn’t show up any cloud development and plans. All this happens in parallel with last development of Autodesk PLM 360 and Autodesk’s ambitions to establish themselves as a “Salesforce.com of PLM“.

What is my conclusion? I think, we are in the early beginning of cloud PLM race. As we’ve seen in consumer web, mobile, search and social networking, competitors will be using various tools to protect their interest and establish a better market position for their cloud products. Will “Made in German” sticker become one of them? Time will show. Just my thoughts…

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